Police union president backs Mayor Suttle

by Brandon Vogel

A new anti-recall group emerged Jan. 18 to support Mayor Jim Suttle, one week before he faces the city's second recall election in more than two decades.
The Taxpayers Putting Omaha First committee is made up of Omaha police union president Aaron Hanson and local attorneys Dan Stockman and Mike Dowd. The group says it has raised about $12,000 to fight the recall with nearly a quarter of the donations coming from members of the police union. Hanson said in a press release that the group is separate from the police union, which has not taken an official stance on the recall.
Critics of the mayor have used the new police contract signed in August as rallying cry for the recall effort, saying the deal, which reduced benefits for police officers but required the city to increase its pension contributions, was too expensive. Revenue from the new 2.5 percent restaurant tax initiated in October will be used to fund the city's increased pension contributions.

posted at 05:00 pm
on Wednesday, January 19th, 2011

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